Excerpt from Diplomatic Memoirs, Vol. 2 of 2 I have referred in previous chapters to the interest manifested President Arthur in the development of commercial reciprocity, and to the steps taken by his administration to inaugurate and carry forward such a system of exchange with foreign countries. His defeat in the national convention of his party in 1884, followed by the election of President Cleveland, who was opposed to the system, resulted in the failure of the three treaties which had been negotiated with Mexico, with Spain for Cuba and Porto Rico, and with San Domingo. But the return of the Republicans to power in the election of President Harrison in 1888 revived the reciprocity projects. Special arrangements or treaties for the favored ex change of products with other nations were not an entirely new measure. During the presidency of Jackson a treaty made with France(1831) contained commercial reciprocity provisions. In 1843 President Tyler instructed our Minister to Prussia, Mr. Wheaton, to negotiate with the Germanic Customs Union, or Zollverein, "a commercial treaty, which, while it will open new advantages to the agricultural interests of the United States and a more free and expanded field for commercial operations, will affect injuriously no existing interest in the Union.

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